John Calipari Kentucky Wildcats – Developing a great practice

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Basketball Coaching Clinic Notes

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September 16, 2014

John Calipari Kentucky Wildcats – Developing a great practice

This post is from the John Calipari clinic and mainly deals with his perspective on how to develop a great practice plan. Most coaches have a plan going into a practice and hopefully you’ll be able to take a couple of these tips and add them to your daily practice.

– He talks with his players about what it takes to play for him and the program at Kentucky. Make sure your players know, before you make cuts, what you expect from them every day in practice and the work that they’ll have to put into the program on a daily basis

– Build your defense from 1 on 1, to 2 on 2, all the way up to 5 on 5 or team play. This enables players to develop good skill work before putting it together as a team in 5 on 5 play. Also allows you as the coach to see specific player’s ability to perform (or not perform) on a 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 situation where they can be exposed.

– Coach John Calipari talks about asking players if they can handle playing at UK and I liken that to talking players into playing. As a coach the decision has to be up to the player. If they are half hearted then they will drive both you and the team crazy during the season. Get players that WANT to be there.

– Make your conditioning a part of the practice. Using drills that incorporate a ball are much more enjoyable for players than putting the balls up and running. This type of conditioning also accomplishes a lot more than just running. Keep players moving during practice and the “conditioning” should take care of itself.

– Likes to switch from full court to half court drills during practice. This gives players a break without telling them it’s a break because they still have to participate in drills but don’t have to run full court. This takes some thought when putting your practice plan together! “It’s never OK to go half speed because I’m exhausted”.

– Think about who you want to take the ball out of bounds. Not every player is a good inbounder and this is a critical part of keeping possession. Teach your kids what to look for. “Make sure you have the best guy inbounding the ball and you’ll eliminate 3 turnovers a game”.

– Run what’s best for your team. Don’t do something just because that’s the way everybody else does it. You have to coach your team and the players you have. Don’t force players to do something they’re not capable of, build your team around their strengths!

Mark Chapman is the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, Ohio. Coach Mark Chapman always has great basketball plays and basketball coaching clinic notes to share with the basketball coaching world. Coach Mark Chapman is one of our hardest basketball contributors on Men’s Basketball Hoop Scoop. I think that you will love the different types of basketball material that he will present us with on this basketball forum. Make sure that you check out his posts here!

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